[compiz] Where are we going?

[Jeffrey Laramie]

Hello All,

The Managing Committee has spent quite a bit of effort over the last two 
months trying to define the direction and goals of compiz. One of the issues 
we struggled with was how to define the scope of compiz broad enough to 
include everything the community is interested in, while still keeping it 
compact enough to be easily included as a component in a desktop environment 
(DE). After much discussion we concluded that the best answer was to split 
compiz into two divisions. Here is a draft proposal that defines how we'd 
like to do this:

Compiz-Core
* The Compiz-Core division will include the code of the current core plus core 
plugins that provide essential functionality (a subset of the current compiz 
package).
* The package will be called "compiz".
* Compiz will be extremely stable with the relatively narrow focus of being a 
compositing window manager that will run on X Server and can be integrated 
into any DE.
* It will not include any functionality or code that replaces similar 
functionality in a DE unless it is required for compiz to operate correctly.
* The Compiz-Core community will focus on core developers and plugin 
developers and will primarily use the compiz mailing list and the wiki.
* The goal of Compiz-Core is for compiz to become a universal compositing and 
window manager layer on top of X Server, which can be integrated into all 
major DEs and included by default in all major distributions.

Compiz-Extra
* The Compiz-Extra division will include plugins and other programs that 
provide functionality which is not essential to the operation of the core 
(compiz-extra, plus some plugins from compiz, plus other programs).
* We are currently calling this division and package "compiz-extra" but this 
may change as the community and project scope grows and evolves.
* Compiz-Extra will have a broad focus on plugins, decorators, libraries, and 
other programs and will include stable, developmental, and experimental code.
* It will include functionality and code that can be used universally, used 
with a specific DE, or can be run on compiz without a DE.
* The Compiz-Extra community will focus on the developers creating and 
maintaining the compiz-extra programs and on end users. It will primarily use 
the wiki and the forum.
* The goal of the Compiz-Extra division is to develop compiz related software 
and support the use of compiz on all desktops.

Creating these divisions would have very little immediate effect on our 
community. Other than moving some code out of the core package, this is 
really just a definition of what we're doing now. The real benefit comes in 
the future as the Compiz-Extra division grows and is free to create new 
desktop programs and libraries without endangering the adoption of compiz by 
existing DEs. Once everyone has had opportunity to read and discuss this 
proposal we'll post a final version on the wiki. Shortly after that we'll 
post a draft roadmap based on the final version which we can work on and 
discuss.

This is also posted on the forum:
http://forum.go-compiz.org/viewtopic.php?t=677

Jeff